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Agriculture is a sin-qua-non for a nation's progress. Often the emphasis is on the productivity element. An indepth study is inevitable in the production process which is plagued by climate vagaries and various anthropogenic factors. A batch of Aggriculture Research Service providers comprising of six Scientists of various disciplines have made and attempt to study the nittygritties of agriculture employing participatory rural appraisal technique for identification of agricultural field problems. The village selected is Malpur village of Rajasthan. The study was conducted in 2018 during the Field Experience Training as Agriculture Research Service probationers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural households have established various informal strategies to cope with unanticipated shocks. These existing coping strategies are receiving renewed interest, particularly in the context of climate change and in terms of the role they do, and can play, in enhancing households' adaptive capacity. An improved understanding of these strategies, and the factors that influence their application, may support the design of locally relevant adaptation strategies. We explored the nature and prevalence of unanticipated shocks, including natural hazards, experienced by households in two villages in Venda, South Africa, with the villages selected, in part, because of notable differences in precipitation. We considered the influence of shock type, and household- and location-specific characteristics, on the use of various household-level coping strategies. We report on semi-structured interviews, administered to 170 randomly selected households, and a participatory rural appraisal. Almost 90% of households reported the experience of at least one unanticipated shock over a prescribed 5-year period, with natural hazards reported by 42%. The type of shock experienced and various household-level characteristics, such as households' access to human and financial capital, influences households' coping response. Households' access to natural and social capital allowed for the protection of ex-ante coping options. Overall, our findings indicate that when possible, households actively manage their coping strategy portfolio, both in response to the shock experienced and in anticipation of future shocks. Generally, households' informal, ex-post coping options appear to be insufficiently robust for the covariate nature of natural hazards, suggesting the need for interventions that support households' existing coping portfolio. • Households apply different coping strategies depending on the shocks they face. • Savings help households face natural hazards but risk being depleted by frequent hazards. • Forest products were rarely used to cope with natural hazards, suggesting limitations. • Natural and social capital allows for the protection of households' assets and savings. • Households' access to human and financial capital affects their coping choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there has been a paradigm shift in research from 'top-down' directives to 'bottom-up' planning. Thus, there has been a change from imposing strategies to a participatory approach by indigenous people. This study uses the participatory approach to flood disaster management in Thohoyandou and its environs. The aim of this study is twofold: first, to understand the perception of communities towards floods hazards; and second, to probe how communities respond to flood hazards and how this knowledge can be used in the planning and management of future disasters. In order to achieve these objectives, participatory rural appraisal (PRA), interviews and observation were used as data collection techniques. The study found that there was consensus among the participants that flooding is a natural process, but human activities enhance the risks of flooding. Human activities that were found to be the causes of flood included clearance of vegetation, cultivation in steep slope areas, the effect of relief, urbanisation, poor designs and maintenance of drainage system and settlement in inadequate areas. The study found that local communities did not cope when there was flooding. However, they suggested strategies that should be used to cope with future flood hazards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Bangladesh is highly disaster-prone, with drought being a major hazard which significantly impacts water, food, health, livelihoods, and migration. In seeking to reduce drought vulnerabilities and impacts while improving responses, existing literature pays limited attention to community-level views and actions. This paper aims to contribute to filling in this gap by examining how an indigenous group, the Santal in Bangladesh's northwest, responds to drought through local strategies related to water, food, and migration which in turn impact health and livelihoods. A combination of quantitative data through a household survey and qualitative data through participatory rural appraisal is used. The results suggest that the Santal people have developed and applied varied mechanisms for themselves to respond to drought. The categories of responses found are water collection and storage, crop and livestock selection, and migration. These responses might not be enough to deal with continuing droughts, yielding lessons for Bangladesh and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artisanal fisheries for relatively sessile benthic organisms have become key test cases for developing and testing sustainability policies, as they can address challenges, such as limited enforcement capacity or uncertainty in biological information, by applying area and economics-based management and research methods that are difficult for highly mobile species. We use results from a Participatory Rural Appraisal to analyze the evolution of governance of oyster fisheries along the coast of Nayarit, Mexico, within a community management effort led by local fishers, and highlight key factors in success (and challenges) that are relevant for similar contexts in other regions. We particularly focus on the dynamics of local management, the identification of problems and solutions by fishers, and the integration of community management with the various stakeholders and institutions that participate in formal governance frameworks. These actions have led to self-imposed area and seasonal rotation of harvest to maximize per-unit value, with independent information showing concurrent increases in local oyster abundance and size. Fishers identified lack of enforcement capacity as a main barrier to sustainability, yet were eager to engage with relevant institutions to fill these gaps and continue community-led management that leverages their social cohesion, low production costs, and empirical knowledge of local markets to increase landed value while minimizing overfishing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land-use decisions are a significant threat to biological diversity and landscape character. To counteract the effects of these threats conflicts between biological diversity and land-use decisions must be identified. This study aimed to analyze the social and spatial conflicts that occur due to landuse decisions in an effort to reduce the associated threats. Based on the findings, we propose to establish a balance between economic development and environmental protection by drawing upon the principle of sustainable land-use planning. This study examined the social and spatial conflicts between economy, tourism, and environmental sector outcomes in the Kapisuyu River Basin, Turkey, based on a conflict analysis approach, using geographic information system (GIS) and participatory rural appraisal (PRA) techniques. Conflict analysis is the systematic study of a given conflict that aims to gain a better understanding of the causes of conflict, the actors and stakeholders involved, and the societal changes brought about by conflict. On the basis of land survey data obtained as part of this study, we include a discussion of the effect of legal loopholes that cause conflicts, institutional obligations, and the expectations of local residents related to biological diversity. This study puts forward a specific risk management approach that should serve to alleviate the situation in the Kapisuyu River Basin and a proposal based on conflict analysis for how cooperation between local management, experts, and residents can be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to document details about traditional practices adopted for restraining camel in Rajasthan. The information was collected by discussing villagers of the study area using the “Transect walks” method of the Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) technique from August 2014 to September 2015. The study revealed that restraining practices vary with age of the animal and purpose of restraining. Homemade rope halter is primarily used for restraining young camels, while use of nose-peg and nose-rings are common techniques used in adult animals. Tying fore or hind legs with rope is frequently used for restraining animals in standing or sitting position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to analyze not only the limits but also the potentialities of Jatropha curcas as an alternative energy source to the most common energy sources, such as firewood and charcoal, utilized in Northern Ghana. In 2010, a Participatory Rural Appraisal was conducted in seven rural communities in the West Mamprusi District (Northern region, Ghana). In this context, J. curcas plantations were promoted at smallholder scale and 480 ha of decentralized J. curcas plantations has been established, involving 1,200 farmers (0.4 ha of land per farmer). J. curcas was cultivated only on marginal soil, defined as lands unused for at least 2 years. The proposed J. curcas system could potentially replace, in terms of energy content, 21% of firewood or 21.8% of charcoal monthly used by households, with comparable costs and time , respect to the traditional energy sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Livelihood capital has a close relationship with the income and expenditure of farmers' households. For example, the survival strategies of farmers' households are determined by it and it also influences regional development mechanisms and models. Under the analysis framework of sustainable livelihoods, this study evaluated farmers ' livelihood capital, income, and expenditure, based on a participatory rural appraisal and a statistical method, in the development-restricted ecological district of Ningxia, decomposed into the nationality, terrain, and type of farmers ' household. Further, by using an index of non-farm business households, the correlations between the livelihood capital and income with the expenditure of farmers' households and the index of non-farm business households were quantified to understand the mechanism of regional development. The results showed that livelihood capital was generally low in the study area. In particular, the livelihood capital of Hui nationality households was slightly higher than that of Han nationality households, that of river valley households was higher than that of mountain households, and that of combined occupation households and non-farm business households was significantly higher than that of agricultural households. Moreover, there was a significant positive correlation between the net annual income of farmers' households and the non-agricultural index, human capital, physical capital, and financial capital, while a significant negative correlation existed between net annual income and natural capital. These findings suggested that efforts were required to enhance the capacity of the non-agricultural index and the human, material, and other capital in the study area. They also served as a guideline for the circulation of peasants' means of production in order to accelerate the polarization of natural capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the specific mechanisms of power in participatory rural planning projects. It follows up on suggestions in planning literature about directing focus at the relational level in the assessment of power, rather than on who has power and who doesn't. The paper argues that in such an assessment of power it is needed also to drawn in the social context because different social contexts will be more or less vulnerable to different mechanisms of power. The paper takes the stand the rural settings are especially vulnerable to dis-engagement of local citizens, sub-ordination of the rural by the urban privilege to define the rural qualities and creation of local conflicts and that mechanisms of power that cause such unintended outcomes of rural planning projects should be uncovered. Inspired by Foucault's interpretation of power the paper carries out a grounded theory inspired analysis of a Danish rural participatory planning project. The paper concludes that rural planning literature and analysis will benefits from paying attention to the three – in rural participatory planning projects – specific mechanisms of power ‘Institutionalising knowledge and competencies’; ‘Structuring of criticism’ and ‘Undermining the objectives of the others’ [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, some 2.5 billion people lack adequate sanitation, including 1 billion who practice open defecation. Because inadequate sanitation is both a cause and effect of extreme poverty, it deserves inclusion on the international social work agenda. This article introduces community-led total sanitation (CUTS), a recent and highly effective innovation for mobilizing whole communities to address their sanitation problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the study to determine critical factors associated with wetland sustainable development and management in floodplain wetlands in Talu Malu, Amuguri Basapathar, Kutuha Bar and Bhitorkuri in Asom, India. The study found significant positive contribution towards wetland sustainable development and management by four predictive variables including management capabilities of wetland development committee (X15), and aquaculture input availability (X17).

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Copyright of Biotechnologie, Agronomie, Societe et Environnement is the property of Les Presses Agronomiques de Gembloux and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract: Participatory Rural Appraisal, PRA, had been widely used in the western tourism research studies as an useful qualitative research and engineering tool in gathering qualitative information. This research had been carried out in a rural, exotic Iban village (the indigenous people of Borneo) named Nanga Sumpa, whom involved in the longhouse tourism. The researcher applied several PRA research tools in gathering opinions from Iban communities regarding authenticity and preservation of their culture for tourism purpose. The PRA tools appeared to be a very functional, easy-to-understand and easy-to-use engineering research tool, for both the researcher as well as the rural community, in gathering descriptive feedback and information. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Herero communities in northern Namibia recently formed the Ehi-rovipuka Conservancy under a national Community-Based Natural Resource Management Programme (CBNRM) that has received international acclaim for wildlife conservation and poverty alleviation. Nearly a century ago ancestors of the Herero were ousted from Etosha National Park, contiguous to the Ehi-rovipuka Conservancy. The communities have been denied access ever since. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) methods were employed to elucidate relationships of the Herero and their communal conservancy with the Etosha National Park. Memory mapping and villager interviews revealed a profound sense of lost traditional territory inside Etosha and a strong desire to return to the Park, not to harvest wildlife but to restore cultural practices and reap certain benefits from the Park. We term the separation of the communities from their traditional territory as a ‘decoupling’ of people from their local environment. We further suggest that the potential benefits that villagers identify from the Park represent mechanisms for ‘recoupling’ local social–ecological systems, requiring the literal and figurative breakdown of the Park fence. We describe a model to illustrate decoupling and recoupling mechanisms, and argue that recoupled social–ecological systems are necessary for long-term conservation of biodiversity. We further suggest a collaborative landscape model for biodiversity conservation featuring institutional linkages and integration between community-conserved areas, integrated conservation corridors for connectivity, and dynamic, mobile reserves collaboratively integrated with national parks management. This model may have applicability in Namibia and similar regions elsewhere with low population densities, high species endemism and prevailing or emerging threats to biodiversity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: In the ‘pristine’ environment the spatial distribution of tree resources is normally influenced by site characteristics, including physical and environmental factors such as availability of soil nutrients, light and water, as well as other natural conditions. When applied in conjunction with the Point Centre-Quarter Method (PCQM), however, transect analysis in Mufurudzi resettlement scheme projects a tree resource distribution that is akin to both spatial and historical contingency and demonstrates that tree resource distribution has been influenced by both past and present anthropogenic forces. This paper demonstrates that the deviation of the tree spacing at any location along the surveyed transect from the perfect triangular/hexagonal lattice connoted by tree density values for the whole transect provides a useful mechanism for unravelling historical and spatial contingency in tree resource distribution. This approach presents an alternative way of unveiling the anthropogenic processes that are responsible for shaping tree resource distribution at the micro-level, thus providing information about the micro-level dynamics of tree resource distribution and use patterns which policy makers and resource planners could consider when making decisions about community-based forest and woodland resource conservation. The paper concludes that though tree resource distribution in resettlement areas is partly the result of current patterns of tree resource utilisation, and a function of both the physical and social distance between the location of these resources and the ‘nuclei’ where these resources are used, that is, the resettlement villages, it is also a product of past land use patterns. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Considering unemployment as the basic reason for poverty in India, the Government of India launched a 100 days guaranteed employment programme during 2005. A massive programme that is being implemented throughout India, it needs to be monitored and assessed regularly so as to understand the teething troubles in implementing the programme and make necessary modifications, if any, for better implementation. The present paper makes an attempt to understand the working of the programme by using the secondary data made available by implementing agencies, by conducting Participatory Rural Appraisals (PRAs), Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), physical visits to the works carried out under the programme, and by participation in social audit at the field level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the value of using community risk assessments (CRAs) for climate change adaptation. CRA refers to participatory methods to assess hazards, vulnerabilities and capacities in support of community-based disaster risk reduction, used by many NGOs, community-based organizations, and the Red Cross/Red Crescent. We review the evolution of climate change adaptation and community-based disaster risk reduction, and highlight the challenges of integrating global climate change into a bottom-up and place-based approach. Our analysis of CRAs carried out by various national Red Cross societies shows that CRAs can help address those challenges by fostering community engagement in climate risk reduction, particularly given that many strategies to deal with current climate risks also help to reduce vulnerability to climate change. Climate change can also be explicitly incorporated in CRAs by making better use of CRA tools to assess trends, and by addressing the notion of changing risks. However, a key challenge is to keep CRAs simple enough for wide application. This demands special attention in the modification of CRA tools; in the background materials and trainings for CRA facilitators; and in the guidance for interpretation of CRA outcomes. A second challenge is the application of a limited set of CRA results to guide risk reduction in other communities and to inform national and international adaptation policy. This requires specific attention for sampling and care in scaling up qualitative findings. Finally, stronger linkages are needed between organizations facilitating CRAs and suppliers of climate information, particularly addressing the translation of climate information to the community level. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Actions to manage carbon dioxide (and other greenhouse gas) emissions at regional and local scales take place amid multiple requirements, participants, and agents. To address and solve tensions that emerge from diverse objectives and stakeholder needs, participatory decision processes and information tools are required. This paper explores how regional carbon budget information can contribute to the broader goal of holistic, adaptive regional development. We sketch the characteristics of a novel integrative framework for adaptive carbon management in the context of multiple criteria. An ex-post case study on carbon mitigation from Chiapas, Mexico, demonstrates challenges and trade-offs in a real-world setting. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article presents a comparison of Finnish and Italian legislation, policy and participatory structures for children and discusses the opportunities for children's participation in their everyday lives. We will first explain the Finnish and Italian legislation on children through the three Ps-Protection, Provision and Participation-of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Secondly, we examine the concrete measures for the implementation of the right to participate and give some examples of children's involvement. The comparison of the Finnish and Italian situations discloses that children's participation is conditioned to a certain degree by legislation, but policy and specific projects also play important, although varying roles in children's opportunities to get involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Adaptive collaborative management (ACM) is an interactive planning approach that involves local communities as important stakeholders in resource conservation. This study investigated how participatory research methods may be used to validate ethnoecological knowledge on the distribution of forest resources as an important first step toward ACM at Mt. Kasigau, the most northeastern mountain in the biologically rich Eastern Arc Mountains. Working in Makwasinyi and Jora villages, we facilitated resource-mapping sessions, compiled historical time lines, and recorded photos and narratives on transect walks. Men and women participants mapped different natural and human-constructed features that related to their gendered work activities, and especially showed a diversity of building and firewood resources across a transitional zone at the base of the mountain. Jora village participants mapped past settlements on the mountain and described how environmental change and extra-local forces influenced their movement down slope. These research techniques documented much gendered knowledge about the distribution of forest resources and how the Kasigau Taita spatially adapted their utilization patterns over time. The study participants broaden ACM toward a landscape plan that protects evergreen forests as watersheds and sustains safe access to material forest resources at the base of the mountain. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In much of sub-Saharan Africa, considerable research exists on the impacts of climate change on social-ecological systems. Recent adaptation studies emphasize sectoral vulnerability and largely physical adaptation strategies that mirror anti-desertification plans. The adaptive role of subsistence farmers, the vulnerable ‘target’ population, is largely overlooked. This article aims to fill this gap by putting the views from the vulnerable in the center of the analysis. Drawing from participatory risk ranking and scoring among smallholders in central Senegal, data on multiple hazards indicate that farmers’ adaptive capacity to climate change is undermined by poor health, rural unemployment, and inadequate village infrastructure. Results from conceptual mapping reveal incomplete understanding of causes and consequences of climate change. Yet, shared knowledge and lessons learned from previous climatic stresses provide vital entry points for social learning and enhanced adaptive capacity to both wetter and drier periods now and in the future. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Tourism in Yunnan has a short history: however, many destinations in this region already exhibit substantial cultural and natural degradation. The increased awareness of these negative tour- ism impacts has led Yunnan's provincial government to sponsor the Shangri-La Ecotourism Demonstration Project (SLED): a project focused on promoting sustainable development of ecotourism in Shangri-La with involvement of the host community. This article describes the SLED project's limitations and accomplishments. The first stage of the project explored factors constraining local residents from becoming involved in the tourism industry and outlined strategies and policies necessary to overcome those constraints. The second stage addressed infrastructure improvements, training of villagers in basic hospitality skills, and the introduction of key tourism policies. A follow-up assessment revealed that the project interventions resulted in increased awareness for the need to preserve local culture and the natural environment. Moreover, the project interventions helped in some instances to bring villagers together to work collaboratively on tourism-related projects. Contrary to this, however, pressures from the tourism retail and lodging sectors and lack of support by the local government led to environmental and cultural degradation, unfair distribution of economic gains, and conflict between community segments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Farmers in five districts of north-eastern Uganda were interviewed to generate information on sweet potato production and constraints, with emphasis on damage by millipedes. Participatory rural appraisal methodology was used to interview 148 farmers. The peak period of planting sweet potato was from the end of May till the beginning of July in order to produce dried form food (amukeke) for storage in the dry season, which sets in around November. Vine cuttings were usually planted on mounds and weeding was mostly done only once. Osukut, Araka Red and Araka White were the most popular varieties. Many respondents obtained planting material from volunteer plants. Separation of plots over time and in space was often not practised. Sweet potato crop rotations were diverse. Millet, groundnut and maize were commonly grown after sweet potato. Cassava, sweet potato, groundnut and maize are host crops for millipedes and were often grown in succession. Millipede incidences were not statistically different for the three agro-ecological zones of north-eastern Uganda, but depended on the frequency of millipede hosts (including sweet potato) in the crop rotations. Groundnut planted after sweet potato had high levels of millipede attack. Millipede incidence was often associated with the incidence of weevils. The results of this inventory show that most farmers consider millipedes as a pest of sweet potato and other major food and cash crops, but that many farmers lack the knowledge to control them. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) is becoming a tool of preference in much development work, yet little systematic research has been carried out on its effectiveness. The article addresses this lacuna through findings from a pilot project in Botswana on four PRA exercises that focused on the attitudes of middle management and front-line service providers' on PRA's ability to redress their transactions with their clients and among themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article suggests the use of a consistent framework for comparing collaborative methods for managing natural resources. Managing natural resources involves understanding and manipulating complex systems containing both human and natural components. The article develops such a framework based on five criteria: participation, institutional analysis, simplification of the natural resource, spatial scale, and stages in the process of natural resource management. The framework is applied to six of the more commonly cited methods: soft systems analysis, adaptive management, ecosystem management, agroecosystem analysis, rapid rural appraisal and participatory rural appraisal.

• The evolutionary characteristics of the structure and function of rural homesteads in mountainous areas of China. • The structural and functional evolution of rural homesteads is closely related to the farmers' livelihood. • The government should follow the basic rules of the structural and functional changes of the rural homesteads. Clarifying the structural and functional evolution and driving mechanism of rural homesteads at different stages is crucial for understanding the interaction and coupling of the human-land relationship in mountainous areas. Based on the typical case area household survey and Google Earth high-definition remote sensing image data, this study adopts participatory rural appraisal (PRA), a participatory rural mapping method and a driving mechanism framework for the structural and functional evolution of rural homesteads. The study reveals the evolutionary characteristics of the structure and function of rural homesteads in different stages of mountainous areas and identifies the characteristics and driving mechanism of the evolution. The results demonstrated the following. (1) Due to the influence of social and economic development and the production and living needs of farmers in different periods, the structure and function of homesteads vary obviously in different stages. (2) The structural and functional evolution of rural homesteads in mountainous areas shows a typical pattern of "single-complex-differentiation-diversification". (3) The study of a typical village shows that the evolution and upgrading of the structure and function of homesteads are influenced by factors such as expanding production, improved living conditions and the promotion of regional economic development, as well as the optimization and upgrading of building materials and mutual comparison between neighbors. (4) The structural and functional evolution of rural homesteads in mountainous areas is closely related to economic and social transition and the change of farmers' livelihood strategies. (5) In terms of policy implications, in the process of implementing the Rural Revitalization strategy, the government should follow the basic rules of the structural and functional changes of the homestead, prudently carry out the rectification of rural homesteads, and be alert to the similarities between rural and urban communities, which are not conducive to the agricultural production of farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This study aims to understand community risk perception to environmental hazards in a border conflict zone context in high-mountain areas. Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) tools were applied by the social science team. The results were validated with a hazard map prepared by a separate team comprised of geologists. Turtuk, the northernmost village in Ladakh, India located near the line of control with Pakistan was undertaken as a case study. Turtuk represents a high mountain indigenous rural community which has experienced several catastrophic disasters (flash flooding and landslides in 2010, 2014, and 2015) and territorial armed conflicts (wars in 1971 and 1999 with Pakistan) in recent times. The villagers were able to identify various environmental hazards and associated risk zones through participatory timeline diagram, and hazard and dream mapping exercises. The PRA maps matched the geological hazard map of Turtuk, demonstrating that community people are highly aware of surrounding hazards regardless of differences in age, sex, education, occupation, and religion. They apply indigenous knowledge to deal with the adverse climate and calamities. The technique, of analysing community vulnerability in the context of conflict and disasters by applying qualitative PRA tools and validating the mapping results, as piloted in this study is novel and replicable in any disaster setting. Highlights • Understanding community vulnerability in the context of disasters and conflict. • Application of participatory hazard and dream mapping in analysing community risk perception. • The high mountain communities in Ladakh are resilient to environmental hazards. • They incorporate traditional and indigenous cultural knowledge. • They need assistance to develop a risk-sensitive land use plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]